


from the darkness, there is light.

by jemmasimmns (laurellance)



Category: Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Character Study, Diana Prince Centric, Wonder Woman Centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 09:07:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11249994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurellance/pseuds/jemmasimmns
Summary: From the whispers of shell shocked Belgian and German soldiers emerges a myth: one of a god-like woman who destroys a munition factory. She fights for humanity, for man kind, and they detail a story of a battle between gods, of one between the woman and the god Ares. A Woman of Wonder, they call her, berating her as a illusion of their delusional mind due to starvation and mental exhaustion.A century onward, her myth lives on in whispers, in stories from people who have only heard word of mouth.(Or: 100 years of Wonder Woman)





	from the darkness, there is light.

From the whispers of shell shocked Belgian and German soldiers emerges a myth: one of a god-like woman who destroys a munition factory. She fights for humanity, for man kind, and they detail a story of a battle between gods, of one between the woman and the god Ares. A Woman of Wonder, they call her, berating her as a illusion of their delusional mind due to starvation and mental exhaustion.

A century onward, her myth lives on in whispers, in stories from people who have only heard word of mouth. 

(Or: 100 years of Wonder Woman)

* * *

 

The first account comes from the year 1918, around the time of the armistice. Just days before it, some claim. The dates are muddled, the names of those who live to tell the tale dead, dying or in a mental asylum somewhere. No one remembers exactly where the tale originates, since word of mouth from drunks and alcoholics is generally unreliable. 

An urban legend, the more cynical soldiers denounce. Had a woman even fought in the war in that capacity was unspeakable, unimaginable, but they muse, it would have likely shortened the length of the war. The more positive veterans, the one who make it out proud of their service, remain skeptical of the idea but tease it like a ghost tale. A silly rumour, they tell their children, nothing more. Their fellow soldiers being idealistic for a change. 

Still, the myth becomes legend. Mothers tell the tale to their children in dismissive tones, though those tones would occasionally be wistful. Men denounce the idea of it, and women talk. But this is how legends form: through a never ending cycle of talk that only reinforces the popularity of the idea. 

From these same drunks come her name. A Woman of Wonder, the original drunk calls her, and the name sticks. Wonder Woman.

* * *

The next major appearance of the Woman of Wonder is in the Second World War, with tales of a mystical woman who fights for the allies. For Justice, she fights. For Peace, for Freedom. There are unsubstantiated reports of this woman, who fights for the Jewish population, who fights for the truth. 

In some ways, she becomes an ideal. Across the world, she is a legend, a fervent secret whisper family members would tell children as their siblings or cousins or parents were off at war. She becomes a beacon of hope, of people choosing to do what is right instead of what is easy. 

If the original intent had been to erase the story from the folds and tucks of time, then every effort to do so fails. She becomes more entrenched into the fabric of stories passed down orally, of stories grandparents would tell their grandchildren. From the darkness they whisper, there is light. In the utmost middle of it all rests hope. Neal Shusterman writes: Hope can be bruised or battered. It can be forced underground and even rendered unconscious, but hope cannot be killed. 

This is what they pass on, as people who have lived through trauamising conflicts that caused the world to rewrite itself: that hope is an universal message. Hope, Truth, Justice, Peace, Love, universal values that inspire people to be the best selves they can be, values that inspire ordinary people to be extraordinary. 

* * *

 

The pattern continues in following conflicts: Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and various other Civil Wars, Revolts, Revolutions and Rebellions. There are reported sightings, but she is a legend. She is a myth. She is a folk tale that historians debate, as the result of a deluded soldier’s mind from the war to end all wars. She is a story borne from people who desperately needed help that didn't exist when they needed it. She is an old wives tale that seems as old as the traditions that originated from Medieval times. 

CNN reports one day, of a mysterious warrior in the battle against Doomsday in Metropolis. One such man who watches the broadcast finds the woman strangely familiar, in ways he cannot remember. It is only when he pulls out photo albums of his grandfather that he finds the same woman staring back at him, all appearances unchanged. His grandfather had died in 1968, a World War One veteran who called sharp shooting the best and worst thing he ever did. The woman, according to the hand written notes on the back of the photographs, is called Diana Prince. He vaguely recalls her as being someone who had attended his granddad’s funeral, and how she had looked at the grave with such sadness. 

He had always thought the tales his granddad used to tell him were false, were exaggerations. But there had always been a glimmer in granddad’s eyes as he told them, something that he had rarely seen from granddad. Granddad had had his ghosts, and he had never been able to let go of them. It had partially been why he had went into the field of psychology, he muses, seeing the stoic suffering his father and grandfather had hidden with smoking and alcohol respectively. He is seventy years old now, and he imagines this is what it is like to see one’s life flash before their very eyes. He looks up the clip on the Internet. Diana Prince’s face stares back at his over the screen, even as he rewinds it over and over again. People die, and people age. Yet, this woman, this person, has not aged a day in what must have been a century or so. 

There are renewed whispers of a Woman of Wonder, and the story once again changes. The dates and times shift inconsistently, since the tale had been one that had only ever been told as a silly wives tale, and reflection onto one’s childhood is unreliable and typically not trustworthy. the tale lives on.

* * *

 

There is a folk tale that originates from The Chemist’s War. It speaks of a Woman of Wonder, of a goddess that sought to inspire. They called her Wonder Woman then, and she is still called Wonder Woman a century later. 

**Author's Note:**

> Several Notes to add: 
> 
> -The Neal Shusterman Quote comes from Unsouled, book 3 of the Unwind Dystology. Also, the title comes from the same chapter (Epilogue: The Widow Rheinschild).   
> -World War One was called The Chemist's War for it's development of Chemical Warfare. Even though it had been banned prior to WW1, it was still used. I think it was one german general or someone like that that basically made the comment people would be offended and then they would try to emulate the germans in fighting with chemical warfare. How lovely.
> 
> I'm on tumblr at chochang if anyone wants to say hi.


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